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For the second year running, the Perth 4 Jesus rally is being held in Perth. The speakers are Pastor Kong Hee from City Harvest, Singapore’s largest church, and Pastor Robert Kayanja from Uganda. Both men are funny and anointed. I just came from the Friday night service and it was awesome. It’s open air, at NIB Stadium in Perth and is free and on Saturday from 12noon and Sunday from 2pm. There’s also bookshops, stalls for Bible schools and stuff too.

Last year’s doco on Scottish comics scribe Grant Morrison was an entertaining insight into the mind of the man. That same team is behind Captured Ghosts, a similar doco about writer Warren Ellis. Here’s the skinny.

Halo-8 Entertainment and the Napa Valley Film Festival are co-hosting a special NYC sneak preview screening of “WARREN ELLIS: CAPTURED GHOSTS” at the downtown theater CINEMA VILLAGE (22 E 12th St NYC 10003) during New York Comic Con on Friday October 14th at 11:15pm.

CAPTURED GHOSTS will have its official World Premiere November 11th at the Napa Valley Film Festival (alongside the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s HUGO and gala screenings of Alexander Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS & Clint Eastwoods J EDGAR), but the NVFF organizers made a special exception to co-present this sneak preview screening for fans attending New York Comic Con.

This is the second year in a row Halo-8 will debut a film by Respect Films partners Patrick Meaney and Jordan Rennert during New York Comic Con, following the packed-house that greeted last year’s GRANT MORRISON: TALKING WITH GODS.

CAPTURED GHOSTS features the most extensive interview ever given by Ellis, whose groundbreaking body of work includes comic books Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Iron Man: Extremis, FreakAngels, The Authority and novel Crooked Little Vein. Spanning from his first memory watching the moon landing as a child to the recent boffo success of RED, Ellis’ acerbic wit and core belief in humanity come across like never before… revealing the unique point of view that has made him such a pivotal and influential figure to his massive audience of artists, journalists, scientists, and fans.

“Patrick Meaney and Jordan Rennert have an uncanny ability to tell the stories of cultural visionaries like Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison whose work serves as an epicenter of influence that expands to higher-profile mainstream innovators and subtly changes the world,” said Halo-8 president Matt Pizzolo, who also served as co-producer on the film.

Produced by Patrick Meaney and Jordan Rennert through their Respect Films banner in association with Halo-8 Entertainment and SequArt Publishing, WARREN ELLIS: CAPTURED GHOSTS is the follow-up to Meaney’s 2010 GRANT MORRISON: TALKING WITH GODS docu which Variety said “will intrigue the previously unconverted” and Wired called “an instant classic.”

Based on one of the definitive Justice League stories, the next entry in DC’s animated films is out next year. Here’s the lowdown.

Primetime Television Stars

Nathan Fillion & Tim Daly

join heroic cast of

Justice League: Doom

Warner Home Video to distribute

DC Universe Animated Original Movie in early 2012;

Eight Justice League TV series alums featured in voice cast

Primetime television stars Nathan Fillion and Tim Daly, the reigning voices of Green Lantern and Superman, respectively, join an exciting group of actors reprising their famed cartoon roles in Justice League: Doom, an all-new entry in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies due in early 2012 from Warner Home Video.

Justice League: Doom finds Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and Batman on their heels when a team of super villains discover and implement the Dark Knight’s “contingency plans” for stopping any rogue Justice League member. The story is inspired by Mark Waid’s much-heralded “JLA: Tower of Babel.”

Fillion, the star of ABC’s hit TV drama Castle, made his debut as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan in the recent Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Fillion made his initial DCU bow as the voice of Steve Trevor in the 2008 hit Wonder Woman.

Currently headlining the cast of ABC’s popular Private Practice, Daly originated the title character’s voice in the landmark cartoon, Superman: The Animated Series. He has reprised the role in two DCU films: the 2009 extravaganza Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and the 2010 thriller Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

In addition to current primetime stars Fillion and Daly, the cast is a grand reunion of the original group of actors who provided the voices of the Justice League for the cartoon of the same name and its follow-up, Justice League Unlimited. Reprising their roles are Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series) as Batman, Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville, Breaking In) as Flash, Susan Eisenberg (Superman/Batman: Apocalypse) as Wonder Woman and Carl Lumbly (Alias) as J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter. Bumper Robinson (A Different World, Transformers: Animated) joins the cast as Cyborg.

The Justice League faces two sets of villainous teams in the film – The Royal Flush Gang and a sextet of notable evildoers. The latter group includes three voice acting alumni of the Justice League animated series: Phil Morris (Smallville, Seinfeld) as Vandal Savage, Olivia d’Abo (The Wonder Years) as Star Sapphire, and Alexis Denisof (Angel) as Mirror Master. Also opposing our heroes are Carlos Alazraqui (Reno 911) as Bane, Paul Blackthorne (The Dresden Files) as Metallo, and Claudia Black (Farscape, Stargate SG-1) as Cheetah.

David Kaufman (Danny Phantom) also reprises his Justice League role of Jimmy Olsen.

The film is executive produced by Bruce Timm (Batman: Year One), and directed by Lauren Montgomery (Batman: Year One), who is also credited as producer alongside Alan Burnett (Batman: The Animated Series). Justice League: Doom is the final script from the late Dwayne McDuffie (All-Star Superman, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths). Casting and dialogue direction is once again in the capable hands of Andrea Romano (Batman: Year One, SpongeBob SquarePants).

Warner Home Video will premiere the Justice League: Doom trailer during its presentation at New York Comic Con on Friday, October 14 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in the IGN Theater. Also premiering during that session will be the Catwoman animated short that is attached to Batman: Year One, the next DC Universe Animated Movie (streeting October 18).

This was a happy accident. We get the newspapers delivered everyday at work, so during brekkie I was reading the arts pages, as I’m a highly cultured and sophisticated individual, and found something of a rarity – a review of a comic in The West Australian newspaper.

Perth publisher Gestalt has been increasing their diversity and output this year and The Deep by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer is one of their best works.

You can read the whole review at The West’s site (although they give it the wrong name), but do give it deserved praise.

To have captured the feel of a slick animated adventure so successfully in a graphic novel is not just impressive but a delight.

Their adventure is absorbing and intriguing but what we really follow is this multiracial family and the bonds that keep them together and alive. They are involving and charming, subtle but quick-witted and all captured equally well in Tom Taylor’s tight writing and James Brouwer’s superb draftsmanship.

This adventure ends with the promise of more – making the ending even better.

New Australian publisher Silver Fox Comics is quickly getting noticed with their radical interpretation of the classic, blade swinging avenger Zorro. Read my review of the second ish here at Broken Frontier, and keep an eye out for it your LCS, or a newsagent near you if you’re in Australia.

While you’re at Broken Frontier, you must check out this great list in Joe Keatinge’s latest One You Want column which gives shoutouts to a diverse array of 52 different comics. It’s not that long and is definitely worth a read if you’re stuck for something new to check out.

Also have a read of this examination of DC Comics’ 1997 experiment called Tangent, which saw familiar characters such as Green Lantern and Superman reinterpreted in bold ways, long before DC’w New 52 did.

Comic book newbies, and Marvel zombies take note. There’s a new one-shot launching in November that’ll show what in store next year for Marvel’s titles. I don’t know who that is on the cover. Perhaps Nova with a rad new getup?

The Foundation Of 2012 Is Here – POINT ONE!

“Point One is a massive one-shot of 64 all-new pages of story by the top creators in the business, setting the stage for the biggest stories coming in 2012. It is the starting point to what’s in store for the world’s most iconic characters and startling events. Point One serves as the launch pad for dynamic new series, the return of fan-demanded characters, and a shocking teaser that will have everyone talking. See how all it comes together in one gigantic epic!” – Tom Brevoort, Senior Vice President, Executive Editor.

A few months ago I wrote a monologue for a competition. I was one of the finalists which meant my monologue was performed every night for a week at His Majesty’s Theatre, here in Perth. It was a great opportunity and a real encouragement to see my words bring laughter to a crowded theatre.

The actor who performed my monologue was Nick Candy, who can currently be seen on the TV ad for Blueprint Homes did a great job, and we both received a glowing review.

Below is the complete script. The performance on the night had to be less than 12 minutes, so a few paragraphs were cut. The theme was Treachery and Lechery in the 21st Century, which meant my story, inspired by my own experiences from a few years ago, was slightly ruder than my usual stuff.

A huge thanks must go to the Maj Monologues, presented by the Brainbox Project, and I’ll be sure to enter again next year.

Hit the Read More link for the whole shebang, and I hope you enjoy the dark humour.

The best thing about having one testicle is the jokes.

“What did the teste cancer patient say at the party?” “I’m having a ball!”

“What do Lance Armstrong and the Tower of Pisa have in common?” “ They both lean to the left.”

Ah, classic.

My own story to becoming a Uniballer is filled with laughs, greed and more needle marks than a Keith Richards weekend at home.

Four years ago, I was studying creative arts at Uni. It was my attempt to avoid working for a living. You see, many years ago, my grand parents won the second ever lottery in Australia. They were already wealthy and were shrewd investors, so they were able to retire in their fifties. As part of their will they left a hefty payment to my parents as long as they had children, and had the same deal for myself. So when I was born my parents’ bank account instantly became filled with more zeroes than my school report. My granddad was a rather paranoid Polish immigrant and was determined to keep the family name alive. He thought that if there was a generous financial reward encouraging children then his name would live on. Not a bad idea really, although it didn’t spur me on to pump out any kids. It just made me veer dangerously close to becoming Hugh Grant’s character in About A Boy – a selfish, bored waster of time and money. Landing at Uni was at least a pleasant distraction from any potential cubicle dwelling existence.